>>8906297
If anything DQ4 has more grinding than 2 or 3. In those games the only times you REALLY have no choice but to grind for a bit is when you're lvl 1. In DQ2 that only happens once. In DQ3 that happens twice I guess; in DQ4 that happens what, 4 or 5 times?
Anyway if in DQ2/3/4 you're grinding past the few initial levels, to the point that it becomes something you have to complain about; then you probably really suck at the game, it's always possible to push forward otherwise.
You might get unlucky and die once or twice, or you might have to exit a dungeon to heal before mapping out half of it, but that's part of the game.
I have a feeling that players complaining about grinding are the kind of players used to more modern jRPGs (16-bit onwards) in which you can just spam X to win and don't have to worry about anything; and expect older jRPGs to play the same, so they think they're "supposed" to grind until they're high lvl enough to be able to do that.